The lingering fuel scarcity in major cities of Nigeria continued yesterday with menacing long queues of vehicles at filling stations, and the trotting black marketers shuttling the high streets and corners.
For the first time in many weeks, the federal government opened up yesterday to address the situation, adding that the federal government does not have the intention of increasing the price of petroleum products, not during the Yuletide season.
The government’s response came amid a worsening and persistent fuel scarcity, which spread further yesterday across the country. Also, the pump price of fuel rose high as N285/litre in some filling stations in the nation’s capital
Reports say that the black market cost of petrol in Lagos had risen to about N450/litre, while it sold for more than that price in some other states.
In the federal government’s response it said there is fuel reserve stock that could last the country for 34 days
As concerns around fuel price and supply heightened, the government declared that it had no plan to increase the price of petrol, describing comments on PMS price and its availability as speculations.
In a statement on yesterday {Thursday}, Adeyemi Adetunji, executive vice president, downstream, NNPC Limited, disclosed that officials are presently monitoring massive loading from the depot to different locations to reduce the long queue saying that the NNPC has programmed vessels and trucks to unconstrained depots.
The statement also disclosed that the recent queues in Lagos are largely because of the ongoing road infrastructure projects around Apapa and access road challenges in the state.
He disclosed that the gridlock is phasing out and the NNPC retail and key marketers had increased loading into Abuja to restore normalcy.
However, the national public relations officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Ukadike Chinedu, told newsmen that most IPMAN members, who owned bulk of the filling stations across the country, were now subjected to purchasing PMS at about N220/litre, which was why many outlets currently dispensed at about N250/litre and above.
He explained that the cost of the commodity had been rising due its unavailability and other concerns in the sector, stressing that consumers should be ready to pay between N350/litre to N400/litre before the end of this year.
Reacting to the concerns around PMS price and its availability, in an advisory issued in Abuja on Wednesday, the NMDPRA said, the federal government has no intention of increasing the price of PMS during this period.
“Consequently, marketers and the general public are advised to avoid panic buying, diversion of products, and hoarding. In keeping with the authority’s responsibilities as outlined in the Petroleum Industry Act, the authority assures the public that it would continue to monitor the supply and distribution of all petroleum products nationwide especially during this holiday season,” the statement said
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